James Iha

by | Mar 27, 2023 | Uncategorized

Best known as a co-founder of the alternative rock band Smashing Pumpkins, James Iha has since then has gone on to start up his own clothing label Vaporize; scored soundtracks for film and television; sat in on numerous sessions with other artists; been in bands Vanessa and the O’s, Tinted Windows (with former Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos), returned to Smashing Pumpkins after the band’s hiatus, and would join the arena-rock supergroup A Perfect Circle.

Born in Chicago, James Yoshinobu Iha (3/26/68) is a second-generation Japanese-American. He attended Elk Grove High School, which he describes as “a boring, middle-class suburb” of Chicago. After a successful two-year stint at a local junior college, he majored in graphic design at Loyola University before dropping out to dedicate himself to Smashing Pumpkins.

Singer/guitarist Billy Corgan had been playing in the gothic rock band The Marked down in Florida. After their breakup, Corgan returned to his native Chicago, where he took a job in a record store and formed the idea of a new band to be called Smashing Pumpkins. While working there he would meet Iha, who at the time was in a band called Snake Train, and the two soon began writing songs together.

As a duo, rhythmically supported by a drum machine, they performed live for the first time on July 9, 1988 at the Polish bar Chicago 21. Shortly thereafter, Corgan met D’arcy Wretzky, and after finding out she played bass guitar, recruited her into the lineup and they next appeared at the Avalon Nightclub.

After this show, Cabaret Metro owner Joe Shanahan agreed to book the band on the condition that they replace the drum machine with a live drummer. Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was recommended by a friend of Corgan’s. And Smashing Pumpkins became a full-fledged band taking the stage for the first time at Cabaret Metro on October 5, 1988.

Iha would remain a member of the Smashing Pumpkins for the next twelve years, recording and touring in support of six studio albums until their initial breakup in 2000. During lulls in the Smashing Pumpkins schedule, Iha had the ability to produce some of his own music, a solo album Let It Come Down released in 1998. Critic Thomas Erlwaine notes, “It is one of the rare solo projects from a member of major band that explores territory that could not be covered by the band itself,” continuing, “Iha has made, in essence, a Californian soft rock album from the ’70s.”

After the Smashing Pumpkins’ breakup, Iha pursued many projects including contributions and guest appearances on recordings by bands Whiskeytown, Ivy and Fountains of Wayne.

Iha has also collaborated on musical and fashion design projects in Japan. He collaborated on and produced two tracks with Japanese musician Chara for her 2001 album MadrigalWith the help of longtime friend and manager Isao Izutsu, in a collaboration with Japanese clothing label Beams, Iha started his own men’s clothing label Vaporize as designer and consultant, and recorded “Never Ever” https://youtu.be/1z4Woo_vwGE for Vaporize’s first runway show.

Since 2002, Iha has been a member of the acclaimed progressive rock band A Perfect Circle. He continued to tour with the band headlining amphitheaters and arenas before the pandemic.

In February 2006, Iha teamed with Michael Stipe from R.E.M. and Chris Martin from Coldplay producing the EP In the Sun, released as a benefit of Gulf Coast victims of Hurricane Katrina. In collaboration with Stipe, Iha played guitar at the “Bring ‘Em Back Home Now” concert in March 2006 in New York City to benefit Iraq War veterans’ peace groups.

In 2009 it was announced that Iha had, together with vocalist Taylor Hanson, Fountains of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger and Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos formed a new band Tinted Windows. The band played their first publicized gig at SXSW in Austin, Texas that year and released a self-titled album to positive reviews.

14 years after his first solo outing, Iha’s second solo album Look to the Sky came out in 2012. Noting the maturity in Iha’s music and industry credibility he’s achieved, critic Matt Collar notes the album, “feels like he is finally owning his legacy as a ’90s alt-rock pioneer.” He would debut the album at the EMI Rocks Festival in Saitama, Japan and would embark on a European tour.

In 2013, under management of David Bason, Iha collaborated with Japanese musician Yukihiro Takahashi, writing songs for and performing on Takahashi’s album Life Anew, and performing as part of Takahashi’s band “In Phase” on tours in Japan.
Iha’s musical horizons would continue to expand. In 2014 he scored the soundtrack to the Lionsgate/Hulu series “Deadbeat.” In 2016 he composed the score for James Franco’s film Mother, May I Sleep with Danger?.

It was on his birthday on March 26 in 2016 when James Iha would re-united with Smashing Pumpkins’ bandmates Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin, and Jeff Schroeder on stage unannounced at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. He performed a few songsmarking his first appearance with the Smashing Pumpkins in 16 years. Iha also played at the second of the two Smashing Pumpkins shows at the Ace Hotel the following day, which was Easter Sunday. Iha reunited with the Pumpkins for a third time at their concert of April 14 at the Civic Opera House in Chicago. Two years later Smashing Pumpkins founding members Iha and Chamberlin officially rejoined the band. They embarked on the “Shiny and Oh So Bright Tour” starting in July, with a focus on performing material from their first five studio albums.
In the meantime he would continue to score music for television including the E! network drama series “The Arrangement” and Netflix’s “That ‘90s Show.”

And Smashing Pumpkins continue to produce new music, this past year the “rock opera” Atum. (story by Paul Spurgaitis)

Discography:

JAMES IHA (Solo)

1998 Let It Come Down (Virgin 72438454112)

2012 Look to the Sky (The End TE288)

SMASHING PUMPKINS

1991 Lull (Caroline 1465)

1991 Gish (Caroline 1705)

1993 Siamese Dream (Virgin 077778824729)

1994 Pisces Iscariot (Virgin 724384983421)

1994 Earphoria (Virgin 709861754728)

1995 Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (Virgin 724384086121)

1996 The Aeroplane Flies High (Virgin 724384856428)

1998 Adore (Virgin 724384587918)

2000 Machina/The Machines of God (Virgin 724384893620)

2000 Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music (Constantinople CR-04)

2000 Live at Cabaret Metro 10-5-88 (Constantinople CR-05)

2001 Rotten Apples (Virgin 724381155622)

2018 Shining and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 (Napalm NPR807)

2020 Cyr (Sumerian/Martha’s Music/Velvet Hammer SUM1398)

2023 Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts (Martha’s Music)

A PERFECT CIRCLE

2004 Emotive (Virgin 72438666872)

2013 Three Sixty (Virgin B0019292)

2018 Eat the Elephant

VANESSA AND THE O’S

2003 Plus Rien (Virgin 724354723025) EP

2005 La Ballade D’O (Rushmore Recordings 72434774662)

TINTED WINDOWS

2009 Tinted Windows (S-Curve 80731590012)